Indian Valley Community Services District Board of Directors recall, California (2015)
| Indian Valley Community Services District Board of Directors recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
Jane Braxton Brad Smith |
| Recall status |
Recall approved |
| Recall election date |
| March 24, 2015 |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2015 Recalls in California California recall laws Special district recalls Recall reports |
In May 2015, an effort was launched to recall three members of the board of directors for the Indian Valley Community Services District, which is in Plumas County, California. Recalls against each member were successful and went to a vote on March 24, 2015. All three board members were recalled. Two of the members resigned before the recall election even took place.[1]
On December 10, 2014, after signatures for recall petitions were submitted, board members Mike Yost and Jane Braxton Little resigned. Board member Blake Shelters also resigned, although he wasn't under threat of a recall. Board Director Brad Smith did not resign, despite facing a sufficient recall signature petition.[2]
Background
The Indian Valley Community Services District was designed to supply water and sewer services to the communities of Greenville, Taylorsville and Crescent Mills, California. All three members of the board of directors targeted by recall efforts were elected in unopposed races.[3][4]
The district had expenses of $707,498 in the 2013-2014 fiscal year. In 2014-2015, the expenses of the district amounted to $840,358. The proposed budget for 2015-2016 included a large increase to a total of $2,767,130.[5]
A full copy of the district's budget information starting in 2013, including expenses and revenue, is available here.
Recall vote
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Recall Bradley Smith | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
 Recall | 395 | 62.2% | ||
| Retain | 240 | 37.8% | ||
Recall supporters
The campaign in support of the recall was led by Citizens for Responsible Government.[1]
Supporters of the recall alleged that the board ignored counsel from a grand jury, failed to maintain a system of checks and balances, and allowed about $600,000 to be stolen from the services district through embezzlement.[2]
Recall opponents
District residents who supported the directors gave the following statements at a district board meeting:
| “ |
Michael Yost is an intelligent and well-educated man, a necessity and a boon for a small town running its own community services district … his only interest was in helping this community.[6] |
” |
| —A Greenville resident[2] | ||
Speaking to recall supporters:
| “ |
To you with your manic reaction to the mere mention of water, and to the newspaper that has polarized this community with its unfounded quotes and cheap sensationalism, you should be ashamed of yourselves[6] |
” |
| —A district resident[2] | ||
Response from Jane Braxton Little
Board member Jane Braxton Little, in her letter of resignation, said:
| “ | My focus has always been solving problems. Together with other board members, Jesse (Lawson) and his staff, and many of you, we have resolved issues that seemed unsolvable, mounted hurdles we thought were too high. Solving problems is a continual commitment … I have always thought of this office as public service, not politics. That is my naïve mistake. We have maintained civility in the face of pointless, pants-on-fire vindictiveness and you should expect more of the same. I thank you for devoting hours and hours of volunteer labor to a community that has too often not appreciated the effort.[6] | ” |
| —Jane Braxton Little[2] | ||
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in California
Recall proponents needed to collect 337 valid signatures for each board member. To recall Director Brad Smith, 443 valid signatures were submitted. For Mike Yost, 447 valid signatures were certified, and for Jane Braxton Little, 438 were submitted. Even though Mike Yost and Jane Braxton resigned before the recall election was scheduled, law required recall questions to appear for both of them, along with an election for replacement candidates. Brad Smith refused to resign, which meant he would have stayed in office if he had not been recalled by the voters.[1]
See also
External links
Indian Valley CSD Government "Home," accessed May 7, 2015
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Indian + Valley + Community + Services + District + recall"
- All stories may not be relevant to this page due to the nature of the search engine.
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Plumas County News, "Petition approved to recall services district directors," November 28, 2014
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Plumas County News, "Three community services district directors resign," December 21, 2014
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedinto - ↑ Indian Valley CSD Government "Home," accessed May 7, 2015
- ↑ Indian Valley CSD Government "Budget information," accessed May 7, 2015
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
